Psychology

• Psychology


  The scientific investigation of mental processes and behavior
• Psychology


  • Overlaps with traditional and social sciences like biology
  • Based on gathering factual information, forming theories, and testing these theories
• Professionals in Psychology


  • Psychologists
  • Psychiatrists
  • Social Workers
• Clinical neuropsychologists


  Assess, monitor, and manage individuals with brain impairments
• Clinical psychologists


  Assess, diagnose, and treat psychological problems and mental illness
• Counseling psychologists


  Assist individuals, couples, families, and groups with various issues
• Community psychologists


  Work with communities and organizations to address factors impacting psychological wellbeing
• Educational & developmental psychologists


  Focus on how people develop and learn
• Forensic psychologists


  Work in legal areas providing services to criminals, victims, and justice personnel
• Health psychologists


  Promote prevention and treatment of illness within the healthcare system
• Organizational psychologists


  Specialize in employment, human resources, and market research
• Sports psychologists


  Assist individuals and teams in professional and amateur sports
• Mind v. Body Dualism


  Mind is separate from the body
• Monism


  Mind is the same as the brain
• Nature v. Nurture


  Debates the influence of genetics versus environment on mental processes and behavior
• Variables


  Quantities that can differ, like gender or age
• States of Consciousness


  Include normal waking and altered states
• Stream of Consciousness


  Continuous, personal, and ever-changing
• Attention


  Involves focusing on specific stimuli and can be selective or divided
• Controlled processes


  Require mental effort and improve with practice
• Automatic processes


  Require little attention and assist with multitasking
• In normal waking consciousness, we can control focus, unlike in altered states
• Video Monitoring


  Used to study sleep and sleep disorders in real-time
• EEG


  Measures brainwave patterns and is non-invasive and real-time
• EMG


  Records muscle activity and is non-invasive but has technical limitations
• EOG


  Records eye muscle activity and is non-invasive but may have signal superposition
• Biological Sleep Regulation


  Sleep is a biological imperative with circadian, infradian, and ultradian rhythms
• Sleep


  Shifts between NREM and REM sleep occur every 90-120 minutes
• Sleep deprivation


  Can be partial, total, or chronic, impacting emotional, cognitive, and physiological functions
• Loss of REM and NREM sleep


  Can lead to memory problems, mood disturbances, and interference with the body's recovery process
• Sleep debt


  Accumulates from insufficient sleep
• Sleep disorders


  Disrupt normal sleep-wake cycles and can be categorized into different types
• EEG


  Measures brain electrical activity using electrodes attached to the scalp
• FMRI


  Measures blood flow changes in the brain related to activity
• PET


  Uses a radioactive tracer to create brain images for disease or injury detection
• MRI


  Produces high-quality brain images using magnetic resonance technology
• Nervous System


  Comprises the Central Nervous System (CNS) and Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
• Nerves


  Clusters of neurons that transmit impulses for movement and sensation
• Neurons


  Fundamental units of the brain and nervous system, consisting of dendrites, an axon, and a cell body/soma, enabling movement, sensation, and memory
• Brain lobes


  Frontal, Parietal, Occipital, and Temporal are responsible for specific behaviors